Islamic State spokesman and top leader killed in Aleppo

Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of the jihadist group’s longest-serving and most prominent leaders, has been killed in Aleppo in Syria, its Amaq News Agency reported on Tuesday in a statement distributed by the group’s supporters.

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Abu Muhammad al-Adnani

Amaq reported that Adnani was killed “while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo”.

Islamic State holds territory in the province of Aleppo, but not in the city where rebels are fighting Syrian government forces.

Amaq did not say how Adnani was killed. Islamic State published a eulogy dated Aug. 29 but gave no further details.

Recent advances by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, have made inroads into Islamic State holdings in Aleppo province, cutting them off from the Turkish border and supply lines along it. Read More